7
ON
CERTAIN MEDICAL DELUSIONS,
AN
INTRODUCTORY LECTURE
TO THE
COURSE OF INSTITUTES OF MEDICINE
IN
JEFFERSON MEDICAL COLLEGE
OF PHILADELPHIA.
DELIVERED NOVEMBER 4, 1842.
»
BY ROBLEY DUNGLISON, M. D.
PUBLISHED BY THE CLASS.
PHILADELPHIA:
Merrihew & Thompson, Printers,
No. 7 Carter's Aliex.
1£42.
a -- ;
i
, '■>■'
CORRESPONDENCE.
Philadelphia, Nov. llth, 1842.
Dear Sir,—*The gentlemen composing the Jefferson Medical
Class being duly sensible of the merits of your introductory lec-
ture, appointed the undersigned a committee to wait on you for
the purpose of soliciting a copy for publication.
Your granting them this favour will ever be remembered with
feelings of gratitude and a proper sense of the obligation.
With sentiments of the most sincere regard and respect,
We remain your friends,
Thomas K. Price, of Va.
J.'D. Robison, Ohio.
Lewis Paullin, Florida.
Charles A. Phelps, Mass.
T. Dupuy Monteorier, France.
E. C. Chew, N. J.
William W. Watts, N. C.
F. L. Parham, S. C.
James T. Gee, Ala.
J. F. Phileas Proolx, L. C.
J. Curtis, Conn.
J. B. Masser, Penn.
A. McFarland, N. H.
Frederick Rees, England.
William T. Core, Va.
Joseph H. Day, Ky.
A. A. J. Riddle, Ga.
R. N. Wright, Md.
M. Howard, Cuba.
Aaron Young, Jr., Me.
Jno. J. Bacon, N. Y.
T. H. Payne, Miss.
Geo. W. Ewell, Tenn.
J. Von Britton, St. Thomas.
J. C. Neves, Montevideo.
To Professor Dunglison.
4
Philadelphia, Nov. 14, 1842.
Gentlemen,—The introductory lecture, which the gentlemen
composing the class of Jefferson Medical College do me the honor
to solicit for publication, was prepared for them. I therefore
•cheerfully place it in your hands, to do with it as the class may
think proper ; gratified that it should have met with their appro-
bation.
I am, gentlemen,
With great regard,
Faithfully yours,
Robley Dunglison.
To Messrs- Thomas K. Price,&c. &c. Committee.
INTRODUCTORY LECTURE.
Eighteen years,' gentlemen, have elapsed, since I first
presented myself, as a teacher, before a medical class ; and,
for as many successive years, I have experienced emotions
similar to those that impress me now. When I see before
me the faces of some who have accompanied me, for one or
more sessions, through my service of instruction, and who
are full of solicitude that the ensuing course may crown their
exertions ; when I observe others, who have left, for the first
time, perhaps, their homesteads, and are most anxious to ap-
preciate the powers of those who are about to become their
preceptors ; and when, withal, I reflect on the arduous and
responsible duties that devolve upon me, I am not stoic
enough to feel unmoved ; neither would I desire it. Such
emotions stimulate to exertion. That exertion I promise
you ; and I ask only in return the respectful attention which
has always been paid me ; so that after we have travelled in
company along the pathway of science, which is skirted fre-
quently with the fairest flowers, yet is occasionally rugged
and cheerless, and at the termination of our journey are pre-
pared to say
" Farewell! a word that mu9t be, and hath been,
A sound which makes us linger"—
may we separate, dragging " at each remove a lengthening
chain" of affectionate interest for each other, and for the
institution to which we have been mutually attached.
It is not my intention to glorify unnecessarily the de-
partment which it is my duty to teach, and which must
be looked upon as one of the bases of medical science. It
may seem a truism to assert, that no one can know disease
6
unless he is acquainted with the healthy action of organs ;
and that physiology is, therefore, the point of departure for
all our acquaintance with pathology. Yet an inattention to
it is at the foundation of most of our medical errors, popular
and professional. What, for instance, can be the use of
listening to the sounds rendered by disease, or what are
called the physical signs, unless we know the character of
those sounds as heard in the healthy condition of the organs ?
Hence the importance of a recommendation, which I con-
stantly give the young auscultator, to commence his re-
searches on healthy man.
I have said, that an inattention to physiology is at the
foundation of most of our medical errors. I might have
added, that mistaken notions in regard to it had likewise
given rise to many irrational theories, and to some strange
delusions. It is good, to look back to some of those, to
compare the present with the past, in order that we may
hereafter learn to avoid retarding influences, and endeavour
to discover the pathway to truth.
Mysterious as are the functions executed by living beings,
and especially by the most elevated of them—man ;—intri-
cate and inscrutable as many of them have been, are, and
must probably ever remain ; it is not strange that attempts
should have been made in all ages to penetrate the obscurity;
and that singular and fantastic notions should have received,
in the infancy of science, a degree of attention of which they
were undeserving. Far more strange is it, that in the nine-
teenth century beliefs should be openly maintained, which
are not less wild and visionary than many of the speculations
of our forefathers of the times of Paracelsus, and of Jacob
Bbhmen. Indeed, many of these are but the revivals of
prototypes, which had created a deep sensation, then passed
into forgetfulness, and in the fulness of time had again
worked their way to the surface to pass through another
cycle of increment, maturity, and decay.
At different periods, physiology has had her votaries, who
attempted to explain all the phenomena of the living organism
7
by abstract calculations, and by the laws of mechanics, hy-
drostatics and hydraulics; and it cannot be denied, that
many of the functions admit of valuable elucidation from
the physical sciences. The bones are levers ; the joints are
fulcra; the muscles act as the power ; and the action of the
inanimate lever, fulcrum, and power can be calculated as
accurately as in the case of the ordinary lever with which we
raise weights; but no mathematical calculation can convey
any idea to us of fhe degree of force which the living muscle
is capable of exerting. A man, in a state of health, is able to
raise a certain weight by the contraction of the biceps muscle
of his arm ; but let him be struck with the contagion of ma-
lignant fever, and, immediately,—although the lever, the ful-
crum, and the moving power inserted into the lever, hold
the same mechanical relation as in health,—he is not now able
to raise as many ounces as he previously could pounds. The
' nervous power is enfeebled by the depressing morbific in-
fluence, and that power admits of no calculation. In mania,
where it is inordinately exalted, the delicate muscles of the
female can execute feats far exceeding those of which the
same muscles of the healthy male are capable. Yet there
seemed to be an exactitude, which was all desirable and cap-
tivating, in the announcements of the iatro-mathematical or
mechanical physician. They were arrayed, too, in all the
imposing forms of the exact sciences, and thus idle state-
ments were apt to be received as indisputable truths. For
example, it was laid down, that a knowledge of the pro-
per dose of a medicine could be obtained by taking the
square of the patient's constitution ; and although no rules
were given to determine the constitution itself, the recom-
mendation was adopted by author after author, so long as the
system predominated. Yet science derived essential addi-
tions from the labours of several of the distinguished follow-
ers of this doctrine; and the names of Borelli, and Ber-
. nouilli, amongst others, will ever adorn the history of phy-
siological science.
8
Not less imposing were the views of the iatro-chemical
physicians, who likewise added greatly, notwithstanding
many of their visionary speculations, to the progress of me-
dicine. What, indeed, is the animal or the vegetable or-
ganism but an extensive laboratory, in which composi-
tion and decomposition are perpetually going on;—effete
parts being cast off, and new ones constantly deposited in
their places ? Was it strange, then, that the minds of phy-
siologists should be turned to chemistry, to throw light
upon these recondite processes; or that—in the childhood
of chemistry—vague and often irrational views should
have been entertained in regard to them. The blood was
seen to move constantly, and to bathe every tissue. It was
properly looked upon as the pabulum whence every portion
of the body was formed. It was supposed to be liable to
changes, to which all solutions of organized matter are
prone. Fancied acid and alkaline humours were presumed
to meet in the heart, to excite effervescence there, which
generated heat to an extent that might have been danger-
ous, had not nature—which always means Nature's God—
placed the lungs in the vicinity to act like a pair of bellows,
and temper it. Humours of various kinds—peccant, as
they were termed—entered, it was conceived, the fluid of
the circulation, and produced tumult and disorder; but, as
in the case of ferments out of the body, to which they were
likened, they went through a stage of concoction and matu-
ration, and were finally expelled. Thus it was in fevers;—
the heat was necessary to the concoction and maturation;
and the crisis—whether by sweating or purging—eliminated
the peccant or morbific matter, and the fever ceased. Even
yet, popular notions cling with pertinacity to suppositious
humours in the economy; and the practice at Dotheboy's
Hall, of administering sulphur on stated occasions to purify
the blood, is a source of infantile disgust and abhorrence to
others besides the unfortunate inmates of a Yorkshire semi-
nary. Similar impressions led to the practice of blood-let-
9
ting at certain seasons of the year, and at stated periods of
the moon; and it was considered to be a high qualification to
" Know when she was in fittest mood
For cutting corns, or letting blood."
Even yet, on St. Stephen's day, it is the custom, in many
places, to bleed horses; and an old friend of mine, well
known as a valuable contributor to medico-legal science,
especially to that which relates to insanity, was removed—
and properly so-—from his position as a medical officer of
Bethlehem Hospital, London, because he continued the
ancient custom of bleeding the insane on particular days.
These are relics of old notions that had their origin partly
in faulty chemistry. They have ceased now with the pro-
fession, but adhere with a bond, progressively growing
feebler, to some of the unprofessional. A sounder chemistry
now sheds its light on our science. To it we must, indeed,
look for important aid in enabling us to decypher the scroll
of life ; and although we may never attain a knowledge of
the vital principle itself, chemistry may assist more than
any other branch of science in enabling us to comprehend
its results. Without it, no one can pretend to be a physi-
ologist ; but let me guard you—as my learned friend* will
guard you—against being led away by the dogmatical
statements of men of name, who may be honest in their en-
deavours to arrive at truth, yet may not be sufficiently cau-
tious in attaining their conclusions. An important contri-
bution to chemical science has recently emanated from the
press. It has been heralded forth as a light to lighten us
on many obscure phenomena of the living body; and it is
unquestionably an effort, in a most praiseworthy direction,
by one who has made valued contributions to chemical
science, and especially to organic chemistry. It is my duty,
however, as a physiologist, to urge you to study it carefully,
and to separate that which is proved, from that which is
* Professor Bache.
2
10
plausible. Whatever chemical result is announced on the
authority of Liebig is worthy of all attention; whatever is
offered by him as a speculation necessarily requires to be
confirmed. He hftpiself, indeed, states, that his work "con-
tains a collection of problems, such as chemistry at present
requires to be solved) and a number of conclusions, drawn
according to the rules of that science, from such observa-
tions as have been made."^
It is to be feared, that the work of Liebig may lead the
more enthusiastic of our brethren to the adoption of physi-
ological explanations, and therapeutical practices,which may
not stand the test of examination. For the time, chemical
physiology is, doubtless, on the ascendant. This result
has been favoured by the extensive diffusion of Liebig's
work in a form that is within the means of all ; and it
will not be surprising, if we should see chemical remedies
prescribed to supply presumed defects in the elementary
constitution of organs whose functions are deranged.
The enthusiasm will soon, however, subside, and when
the minds of observers have settled down into a state of
quiet, the solid enduring results will be duly registered,
and form permanent additions to the science of life.
The same kind of revival has taken place in regard to
the microscope. When the instrument was first discover-
ed, it was believed to be a means of unravelling the inti-
mate structure, and even the functions of parts that had
been veiled in obscurity; and from it, doubtless, arose
Histology, and Histogeny, or the anatomy and physiology
of the tissues, which are now cultivated almost as new
branches of anatomy and physiology. But the startling
statements that were made; the frequency with which the
observations of one individual, were contradicted by those
of another ; and with which the facts were made to cor-
respond with preconceived hypotheses, brought the instru-
ment into disrepute. As an example of this, I may in-
stance the discovery of the spermatic animalcules, which,
11
for the time, changed the whole views in regard to gene-
ration. The animalcule was presumed to be the manne-
kin—the homunculus, which worked out its own develope-
ment, in the ovary first, and in the uterus afterwards • and
a celebrated pupil of Leeuenhoek is said to have affirmed,
that he not only saw these animalcules under the shape of
the tadpole, as they were generally described, but that he
could trace one of them bursting through the envelope that
contained it, and exhibiting two arms, two legs, a human
head, and a heart. Yet we still recur with satisfaction to
many of the observations of Malpighi, Leeuenhoek, Hooke,
Swammerdamm, Grew, Lieberkiihn, Hales, Delia Torre,
Hewson, Fontana, and others of the earlier prosecutors of
minute or microscopic anatomy.
At the present day, the zeal for microscopic observations
is carried so far, that microscopic journals, and microscopic
societies have been formed; and rich contributions have
been made to histology by such men as Henle, Gerber,
Wagner, Mandl, Klencke, Gulliver, Barry, Schwann,
Schleiden, Wharton Jones, Miescher, Bowman, Valentin,
Berres, and a host of other worthies; and my friend Dr.
Carpenter informs me, in a recent letter, that he has made
some interesting discoveries proving the high organization
of the skeletons of the invertebrata, which have been sup-
posed to be unorganized. But, notwithstanding the advan-
tages that must accrue to science from accurate observa-
tions made in this or any other manner, evils, I appre-
hend, may arise from the exclusive spirit in which they
are apt to be conducted. In an introductory lecture de-
livered by me three years ago, and which was published
by the members of the class, I used the following language.
< Yet, gentlemen, although we are amazingly improved
in our habits of noting and registering facts, I am not sure
if the more modern methods of observing are not calcu-
lated,»with all their advantages, to be productive of some
evil. The school of Louis, to which we owe many excel-
12
lent monographs on individual diseases, urgently impress-
ing, as it does, upon the tyro, the necessity for the most
careful obser a* on of the phenomena presented by disease,
is apt to leave the impression, that this is all the practitioner
needs, and to convey the too exclusive idea, that self-ob-
servation is alone necessary to make the accomplished pa-
thologist and physician ;—an ideal rock, on which the pro-
fession has struck for ages, and which has greatly retarded
the onward course of medical science.
'All must accord with the disciples of that pains-taking
school, that strict and accurate observation is needed to di-
agnosticate the precise pathological condition ; but all must
equally admit, that this diagnosis is only preliminary to the
great object of our investigation—Therapeutics, or the
mode of treating disease. On this object the concentrated
knowledge of anatomy, physiology, pathology, materia
medica, and chemistry, must be directed. Observation
furnishes but the materials for thought, and sound Thera-
peutics requires both. To treat disease understanding^ is
the end and aim of the profession, which you have em-
braced, and observation—accumulated observation—forms
an essential element, but still an element only.'
I would say the same with regard to the utility of ob- ■
sanations made with the microscope as a branch of
physiological inquiry; and such are clearly the views of an
intelligent English writer, whose remarks have just reach-
ed me. "We believe," he says," that if the understanding be
exercised with an energy proportioned to the industry with
which facts are pursued, the present will be a more bril-
liant period in the history of physiology than ever yet
was known; for never were so many engaged in the pur-
suit, and never was there so much labour bestowed upon
it; and already by the few, who combine clearness of
thinking, with accuracy of observation, some most striking
and important results have been attained. Only when we
see an apparatus exalted so much above its due state of
subserviency, we cannot help fearing lest much of that
13
which is being done should be done in vain; and lest that
which is gathered in disorder, and often with a heedless
curiosity, should end, as it did once before, in mere ob-
scurity."
The phenomena of the nervous system, and the most ele-
vated of those, the mental and moral manifestations, are
admitted to be the most complex, and the least known of all.
We are not to be astonished, therefore, if the most hete-
roclite doctrines should have been entertained in regard to
them. Of late, some of those views that had long figured
on the stage, and sunk, apparently, to rise no more, have
experienced a resurrection; and although, in the interval,
physical science had been proceeding with rapid strides,
and the school-master had been extensively abroad amongst
us, they have, in their reproduction, assumed all their
original and monstrous deformities.
It was an ancient belief, that certain persons are capable
of exerting a mysterious sympathy over others, so as to
affect, in the most baneful manner, all their undertakings;
holding them, as it were, in a kind of spell and thraldom,
and surrounding them with the influences of witchery and
magic. Nor has this delusion wholly passed away from
us. Amongst the lowest classes, it is still believed, that an
individual may be overlooked or tricked, as it is called; and
the corroding impression has existed in such force, that
more than one instance has occurred, in which the person,
like the Duke D'Olivarez, in Gil Bias, has sunk to death, the
victim to his own distempered imagination.
There was no end to the varieties which this sympathy as-
sumed. If a person were suddenly taken with a shivering,
it was a sign that some one had, just then, walked over the
site of his future grave ; but probably—as Grose has drily
observed—all persons are not subject to this sensation, other-
wise the inhabitants of those places whose burial grounds are
in exposed situations, would live in a perpetual paroxysm of
shaking! When a person's ear or cheek burned, it was a
14
sign that some one was then talking of him ; if it was the
right cheek or ear, the discourse was to his advantage ; if the
left, to the contrary. The belief, that the body of a mur-
dered person bleeds from sympathy, when the murderer
touches it, prevailed universally, and is not now extinct.
Indeed, all these irrational views are in existence, but they
do not now possess the higher intellects, as they did formerly.
Grafts of flesh, obtained from another's body, were presumed
to hold a mysterious community with their former possessor ;
and we are gravely told, that'in a case where a plastic opera-
tion had been performed on a man's arm, and in which the
graft was obtained from another's body, it was but necessary
for the person to trace letters on the graft, and the original
owner of the piece of flesh could be corresponded with, no
matter how great might be the distance of the parties from
each other. Nay, as my friend and colleague* informed you
last evening, when the first owner died, the graft—it was be-
lieved—immediately fell off. Such a case has, indeed, been
related as a fact in modern times ; and as a confirmation of
the truth of the general rule of sympathetic association, it was
stated, some years ago, that grafted fruit trees in the Island
of St. Helena died on the very day on which the original
trees, whence the grafts had been obtained, died in England.
Were these, indeed, facts, they would deserve to be consi-
dered much stranger than fiction.
Many of these conceits probably originated—directly or
indirectly—in the discovery of the powers of the mineral
magnet. When the first dawn of magnetism broke upon the
minds of men with whom physical science was in its infancy,
it is not surprising, that the physician should believe it a most
potent agent, and that he should adopt it for the cure of many
diseases. Accordingly, Crollius—one of the great advocates
of the doctrine of signatures, to be mentioned hereafter,
details the case of a peasant, who, having swallowed a knife
had it drawn through the parietes of the abdomen by a mag-
netic plaster. Some of the older surgeons—of Ambrose
* Professor Mutter.
15
Pare's time—in cases of hernia, made the patient swallow a
magnet, and placed iron filings on the hernial protrusion to
draw it inwards ; and Paracelsus and Van Helmont recom-
mended a magnetic plaster to the abdomen, when abortion
was threatened, to draw the foetus upwards. Nor was it
astonishing, that enthusiasts, like Paracelsus, should attribute
occult and miraculous powers to the magnet of a moral kind ;
and that it should be believed, that every person who carried
one about him should attract the love and esteem of his
fellow citizens. Paracelsus, the empiric, who—like Robes-
pierre the tyrant, has found apologists and even admirers in
modern times, thought, that by its proper use it might arrest
disease, and prolong life; and, since his time, it has been
greatly connected with numerous delusions. In those dark
days, it was generally credited, that all wounds inflicted by
metallic bodies could be cured by the magnet; and, gradu-
ally, credulity extended so far, that it was deemed sufficient
to magnetize the weapon that had inflicted them ; hence
arose the weapon salves, the armatory unguents or hop-
lochrysmata, as they were learnedly termed, whose entire
efficacy, about the middle of the seventeenth century, it was
considered the height of hardihood to doubt. Their virtues
were lauded in the works of the day ; and are referred to by
a modern poet.
" But the broken lance in his bosom stood,
And it was earthly steel and wood.
She drew the splinter from the wound,
And with a charm she stanch'd the blood;
She bade the gash be cleansed and bound :
No longer by his couch she stood.
But she has ta'en the broken lance,
And wash'd it from the clotted gore,
And salved the splinter o'er and o'er:
William of Deloraine in trance,
Whene'er she turn'd it round and round,
Twisted as if she gall'd his wound;
Then to her maidens she did say,
That he should be whole man and sound.
16
To give you a specimen of one of these ointments, I may
cite the following recipe of the times of Paracelsus, premising
that it was considered to be adapted for the cure of any
wounds inflicted by a sharp weapon, except such as had
penetrated the heart, the brain, or the arteries. " Take of
moss, growing on the head of a thief who has been hanged
and left in the air ; of real mummy ; of human blood, still
warm,—of each one ounce ; of human suet, two ounces ; of
linseed oil, turpentine, and armenian bole, of each two
drachms ; mix all well in a mortar, and keep the salve in an
oblong narrow urn." With this salve the weapon was
anointed, and the wound was tied up, and left undisturbed.
It is believed, indeed, that the practice then adopted with the
wound, gave the surgeon the earliest idea of healing by the
first intention.
At the same time appeared the sympathetic powder of
Sir Kenelm Digby, in the virtues of which the bigoted
James I. of England was a firm believer, and himself prac-
tised with it in several cases ; but it was not esteemed to be
always necessary to apply either the weapon salve, or the
sympathetic powder, to effect a cure of the wound. It was
sufficient to magnetize the sword with the hand, to assuage
any pain, that the weapon had occasioned ; and " that which
is beyond all admiration, says Reginald Scott, in his 'Dis-
covery of Witchcraft,^ "they can remedie any stranger
with that verie sword, wherewith they are wounded'; yea,
and that which is beyond all admiration, if they stroke the
sword upward with their fingers, the partie shall feel no
pain ; whereas, if they draw their fingers downwards, there-
upon the partie wounded shall feele intolerable pain."—And
this is supposed to have been the first shadowing forth of ani-
mal magnetism.
But the power of sympathy was conceived to extend
farther than all this. The magical influence of the will of
one man over another was credited by such men as Bacon,
who lived in the very era of luxuriant superstition ; and the
belief has been resuscitated in our own day, to meet, I trust,
17
with its eternal quietus. It has been believed, for example,
that when a person is in a magnetic or mesmeric state, it is
but necessary for the magnetizer to will, that the magnetized
person shall execute some act, and immediately it is accom-
plished ; yet I have seen an individual will right earnestly,
until he sweated at every pore with the exertion ; but it was
calling spirits from the " vasty deep," that would not come
when he did call for them! The South, and the North, and
the East, and the West, have been troubled on this and kin-
dred matters ; and the metropolis of my second home—for
such was Virginia to me—has been agitated by exhibitions of
mysterious sympathies, in the reality of which grave and re-
verend signors have implicitly believed. It has been credited,
for example, that a magnetized individual could be taken at
the will of one with whom he is placed in communion, or en-
rapport—the technical term—to a distance, and describe
scenes and'objects, which he had never witnessed, exactly
as these scenes and objects really are ; taste, smell, feel, and
see objects, that are tasted, smelt, felt, and seen by another ;
and in short, that an unbounded sympathy may exist between
them, which is as real, as it is inscrutable. To the credit of
my medical brethren of Richmond, they have opposed this
delusion, and, by a train of experiments, that ought to satisfy
any unprejudiced person, have shown that there was no
clairvoyance ; no sympathy ; and that the whole fabric of
infatuation was based upon a few accidental coincidences.
Whilst the delusion was there at its height, and the welkin
rang with it, it had passed away, or was in the crescent, or
wane elsewhere.
I wish I could say, that aU the members of our profession
had exhibited the same caution and deliberate judgment as
the gentlemen in question. One veteran teacher of the West,
in a work entitled " Facts on Mesmerism and thoughts on
its causes and uses," has thus expressed himself in alluding
" to the contest" then in progress, respecting the truth and
usefulness of mesmerism.
" I declare," he remarks, " that contest to be as susceptible
18
of an immediate, easy, and certain decision, as would be a
dispute about the product of the union of sulphuric acid with
soda, zinc, or any other substance. Of either question, the
solution must be drawn from the result of experiments, alike
simple, and easily performed. And in each case ten expe-
riments correctly performed, and identical in their issue, are
as conclusive as ten thousand. I have myself done, in a
single hour, what ought to convince, and, did he witness it,
would convince any unprejudiced, candid, and intelligent
man, of the entire truth of mesmerism," &c.
" Never has there been before a discovery, so easily and
clearly demonstrable as mesmerism is, so unreasonably ahd
stubbornly doubted, and so contumaciously discredited and
opposed,—opposed, I mean, in words ; for the opposition is
but a mass of verbiage ; while the defence is a body of sub-
stantial facts. Yet never before has there been made, in an-
thropology, a discovery at once so interesting and sublime ;
so calculated to exhibit the power and dominion of the
human will; its boundless sway over space and spirit."
"For one person completely to identify another with him-
self—sense with sense—sentiment with sentiment—thought
with thought—movement with movement—will with will—
and I was near saying existence with existence—and to gain
over him so entire a control as to be able to transport him,
in his whole mind and being, over mountains, seas, and
oceans, into distant lands, and disclose to him there the ob-
jects and scenes which actually exist, of which he was utterly
ignorant before, and becomes alike ignorant again, when re-
stored to his usual condition of existence ; and higher and
grander still, to waft him at pleasure through space to any or
all of the heavenly bodies, of which we have any knowledge,
and converse with him about them ; such deeds as these may
well be called amazing ; yet are they as easy, certain, and
speedy of performance, as many of the most common transac-
tions of life."—p. xxii.
Yet, gentlemen, by no " verbiage," but by a " body of
substantial facts;" by a series of well devised and carefully
19
conducted experiments, guided by a philosophical mind,
anxious only for the discovery of truth, one of my learned
colleagues* has prostrated the whole fabric of clairvoyance,
and scattered to the elements the fertile creations of the
veteran enthusiast. He has shown to the satisfaction of
" any unprejudiced, candid, and intelligent man," that there
is, in such cases, no identification of sense with sense, of
sentiment with sentiment, of thought with thought, of
movement with movement, and of will with will. The
whole is a delusion, accidental or designed. Still, there is
much well worthy of the study of the physician in the phe-
nomena exhibited by one who is thrown into the singular
hysteroid condition, that constitutes what is termed the
magnetic or mesmeric state.
One of the most startling of recent annunciations is the
statement, that if one of the compartments of the skull, as
mapped out by the phrenologist, be touched whilst a person
is in this state, he will immediately have his thoughts turn-
ed in the direction of the mental faculty that corresponds
with the particular phrenological organ, and exhibit mani-
festations thereof in his actions and speech. Some of the
phenomena, which I witnessed, were certainly most strange;
and, at first aspect, were strongly confirmatory of the union
between Phrenology and Magnetism, and, therefore, of the
truth of both. By the same able investigator, however, this
matter has likewise been put at rest. It has been demon-
strated, that where the person operated upon has had no
previous acquaintance of any kind with phrenology, not the
slightest manifestation can be elicited ; and that by stating
aloud, that the manipulator is about to touch a certain or-
gan, although in reality he touches another, the thoughts
and actions may be immediately made to correspond with
the organ mentioned—not with the one over which the finger
is placed. The researches of my able friend have been
read before a learned society, and, for the sake of true
* Professor J. K. Mitchell.
20
science, I am gratified in being able to state, that they will
appear in a form, which will render them accessible to all.
I may cite, however, the two following deductions of Pro-
fessor Mitchell, from the " Quarterly Summary of the
Transactions of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia,
for August, September, and October, 1842," just published.
" As we cannot believe in mesmeric l rapport/ so we
are not able to credit the existence of any peculiar sympa-
thy between the operator and subject. Untrained or igno-
rant patients never shew sympathetic phenomena. I have
been pinched, and hurt otherwise, a great many times, with-
out observing any suffering on the part of my subjects, un-
til they were taught to believe that such a relation existed;
and then they very honestly felt hurt, as people do in
dreams—a kind of imaginary suffering.
"The phrenological phenomena of mesmerism, when
rigidly examined, are found to consist, as do most of the
mesmeric wonders, of ' such stuff as dreams are made of.'
The excitement of the brain is general, the direction of
that excitement is given by the mesmerised person's know-
ledge of phrenology; but the patient is not in any case
aware of his mental co-operation. This singular delusion
or misapprehension runs through nearly the entire subject
of mesmerism; most of the phenomena of which are a
strange mixture of physical impulse and mental hallucina-
tion. Phrenologists alone feel the phreno-mesmeric excite-
ment. Persons partially acquainted with phrenology ex-
perience it only as to the organs known to them; while
those who are totally ignorant of the subject present no
local manifestations, until they are taught, either awake or
asleep, what they should know, and what they should do.
The displacement of old organs, in one city, their retention
of location in another, and the adherence of, the patients to
the peculiar and dissimilar systems of phrenology, which
they have, respectively, been taught, shew clearly, that the
direction of the cerebral excitement is personal and arbitra-
ry ; while the new maps pf the cranium, so widely different
21
from each other, leave us no longer in the least doubt as to
the delusive source of the compound science of phreno-
mesmerism."
Phrenology is a branch of physiology, and therefore
forms part of my course of lectures. It is an exemplifica-
tion of the fact, that we are anxious to seize hold of every-
thing that seems to be demonstrative in regard to the inti-
mate investigation of the functions of the human brain.
Psychology is mental philosophy, and whatever knowledge
we attain by its means must be by a laborious process of
reasoning, of which all are by no means capable. It was,
therefore, exhibiting an easy road to the mental organiza-
tion of man, when it was pronounced, that his brain con-
sists of a series of organs, each of which has for its function
a particular intellectual or moral act. A few coincidences—
as in the case of mesmerism—were quite sufficient to satisfy
those, who are readily convinced, of its truth. Moreover,
it had antiquity in its favour. In its rudimental state, it
was supported by Aristotle. It was resuscitated in the
middle ages, was shadowed out by Swedenborg, and as-
sumed a new and more imposing form under Gall and his
disciples. It afforded a geographical chart of the head, on
which the inquirer into his own mental tendencies had but
to look, and to compare it with that of others, in order to
arrive at—he conceived—satisfactory information. It ex-
hibited somewhat of the character of an exact science ap-
plied to a study universally considered to be unfixed, mazy
and difficult.
Yet, successive years have not tended to confirm the
doctrine. The minds of some of the best physiologists are
more chary in embracing it. Mailer thinks Magendie right
in placing cranioscopy in the same category with astrology
and alchemy : Leuret and Carpenter affirm, that compara-
tive anatomy and psychology are very far from supporting
it, when their evidence is fairly weighed; and Flourens,
the perpetual secretary to the French Academy of Sciences,
22
has very recently opposed it vigorously in the Journal des
Savans, on anatomical, physiological, and psychological
considerations; and I must admit—as I have already pub-
licly admitted—that year after year's observation and re-
flection render me less and less disposed to consider even
the fundamental points of the doctrine to be founded on a
just appreciation of the encephalic functions.
But even were we to concede, that the fundamental prin-
ciples are accurate, we might hesitate in adopting the de-
tails ; and, still more, in giving any weight to it as a practical
science. Gall, Spurzheim, and Combe would rarely venture
to pronounce on the psychological aptitudes of individuals
from an examination of their skulls. The first of these—
and the founder of the doctrine, in its present shape—when
he attempted to form a judgment, was not satisfied with
examining the head alone. " In society," says he, " I
make use of many expedients to become acquainted with
the talents and the inclinations of persons. I engage them
in conversation on various subjects ;"—and he adds, " to
judge of the character of a person, make him talk of his
childhood,and his early youth; make him relate his freaks
at school; his conduct towards his relations, brothers, sis-
ters, companions, the emulation which he felt;" and by
these and other modes of examination, which he describes,
"the whole man,"—he says,—"becomes developed be-
fore me."
Yet cranioscopy ministers so much to the self-satisfaction
of children of larger growth, when the oracle, after an exami-
nation of their " developements"—the technical term—an-
nounces that they possess faculties, which they, perhaps,
dreamt not of, and the fancied possession of which ele-
vates them in their own conceit;—and, like astrology, and
the more humble fortune-telling, affords so much gratifica-
tion to parents, in foretelling prospects of distinction for
their children, when announced by a dexterous and wily
operator, that father and child run together to learn their
23
destinies ; pay the fee, and receive a chart, to be but a sorry
guide to them, however, on the voyage.of life. This indiscri-
minate divination from the mensuration of heads, has been
a sad detriment to phrenology, as a branch of physiological
science. Its prevalence has indeed been grievously deplored
by all enlightened phrenologists. "Highly as we estimate the
discovery of Gall,"—says, very recently, one of the ablest
of phrenologists—" immense as we regard the advantages
which may be ultimately derived from phrenology, we
confess, that we wish to see it less regarded, studied, and
pursued as a separate science, and more as a branch of
general physiology ;" and he adds, " In reviewing the cir-
cumstances, which have tended to lower phrenology in the
estimation of scientific men, and, consequently, to retard
both its progress as a science, and the general recognition
of its leading truths, we should but very imperfectly per-
form our task, if we did not refer, in the strongest possible
terms of reproof and condemnation, to the too prevalent
proceeding of examining living heads in minute detail and
indiscriminately, and supplying the owners with an ac-
count of the ' developement,' often on the receipt of a fee,
varying in amount, as there is furnished or omitted a gene-
ral deduction as to the character and probable conduct of
the individual, with or without the < philosophy,' accord-
ing to the phraseology of practitioners of this art. We un-
hesitatingly maintain, that the science is not sufficiently ad-
vanced to supply evidence of its truth from every head, or
from any one head, and consequently, that such practice, as a
general one, is so much pure charlatanism. Where any
strongly marked peculiarity of individual character exists, its
outward sign, in appropriate subjects,will certainly be detect-
ed ; but, from the very nature of the thing, these cases must
constitute, not the rule, but the exception. The practice we
condemn, however, makes no distinction of instances. Inju-
dicious zeal, the common ally of ignorance, a wish for ef-
fect, not unfrequently more sordid motives, stimulate the
24
self-styled phrenologist in this empirical career; and, as a
matter of course, the errors and mistakes perpetually made
are constantly appealed to as indicative of the sandy foun-
dations of the entire phrenological edifice. We write ad-
visedly in this our unqualified reprobation of the popular
custom of' taking developements.' We believe it to be an
extension of the practical application of phrenology much
beyond its legitimate bounds ; and We appeal to any one
having acquaintance with its results, whether any thing
like uniformity—the true test of accuracy—is obtained in
the majority of cases, even when the most experienced and
dexterous pronounce their judgment, if their explorations be
conducted separately. We ourselves have even witnessed
the greatest possible discrepancies. Nay, we have seen
the same phrenologist furnish one character from the head,
and a totally different one from the cast, whilst in igno-
rance of the original of this latter. This we have known
to happen, not merely in the practice of one of your shil-
ling-a-head itinerants, but in that of one not unknown to
fame in the annals of the science."
Such, are the views of a distinguished writer, who,
unlike myself, expects much from phrenology, and has
done much to give it countenance. Yet men will still form
their judgments in this manner ; and a solitary coincidence,
as in all similar cases, will outweigh a dozen failures. How
constantly are we not deceived as to individuals, even when
we combine a judgment not alone of their cranial, but of their
facial, conformation; or, in other words, associate phrenology
or craniology, with physiognomy!
When the poet and profound psychologist, Coleridge, was
at one of the English watering places, he found himself seated
at the dinner table opposite to a man of most prepossessing
appearance; with a countenance that would have been a study
for Lavater, and a head for Gall and Spurzheim. The
stranger maintained a profound silence during the repast, and
Coleridge had ample time to indulge in various imaginings as
to his probable position and character; that he was a man of
25
high intellect and great polish, could scarcely be doubted ;
but all this beautiful imagery was dispelled as the waiter
brought in some apple-dumplings; when the great unknown
clasped his hands and exclaimed, his countenance beaming
with sensual gratification:—" them's the jockey's for me;"—
and thus ended the delusion.
Were the phantasies, to which 1 have referred, confined to
simple speculation, the evils resulting from them would be
endurable. Mankind must be entertained. It would appear,
indeed, as if they must be deceived ; and hence it becomes
necessary, ever and anon, that a new tub should be thrown
out to amuse the whale. Unfortunately, however, in the
superstition and credulity that even yet exist in this enlight-
ened age, it is believed, that a man may be born a physician,
and that ignorant or designing individuals,—in or out of the
ranks of the profession,—may possess a gift, which enables
them to dispense with study, to discard all knowledge of the
human body, to see intuitively into the very nature of dis-
ease, and to suggest a proper remedy.
In the year 1840, 36,000 persons petitioned the legislature
of New York for a change of the law towards certain prac-
titioners in medicine, known as Thomsonians,—grossly igno-
rant men, one of whose leading principles is, that the human
body is composed of four elements, which elements are,
earth, air, fire and water; and one of thnir apothegms,—
I cite the words of Thomson, the son,—" that the metals and
minerals are in the earth, and being extracted from the depths
of the earth have a tendency to carry all down into the
earth ; or, in other words, the grave, who use them. That
the tendency of all vegetables is to spring up from the earth.
Their tendency is upwards ; their tendency is to invigorate
and fructify, and uphold mankind from the grave." Well
might the framer of the minority-report, an intelligent
lawyer, be led to remark,—in language too sarcastic, per-
haps : " This is a world of humbugs ; and with all our keen-
sightedness, adroitness, skill and ingenuity, in all we under-
4
26
take, we are, perhaps, the most easily humbuged nation in
the world ; and in nothing is this alacrity to be deceived
more fully manifested, than in the eternal, never-ending,
still-beginning, doctoring-still, and still-destroying patent
medicines. Perhaps one-fourth of the advertising patronage
of a country newspaper consists in puffing patent medicines,
and this great tariff is levied on credulity afflicted with dis-
ease. If there were truth in the advertisements of a single
paper, attested by the learned, the wise, and the pious, there
is not a disease, to which poor humanity is heir, but what is
susceptible of speedy relief and ultimate cure."
The Thomsonian or Botanic Physician has found in
this city his proper level; but we are told,—by an interested
witness, it is true,—that three millions of people in the
United States were prepared to swear in the words of
Thomson, the master.
If, however, Thomsonianism has waned in this parallel,
its place has been taken by another offset from the tree of
credulity; whose absurdities are only greater because they
are less. Ages ago, the credulous practitioners of the pe-
riod had the most fantastic notions in regard to the adapta-
tion of particular remedies for particular maladies; and
they maintained, that where such special adaptation exist-
ed, it would be shown by some indication or signature
as it was termed ; and hence arose the " Doctrine of Sig-
natures" in Medicine. Saffron and Turmeric were of a
yellow colour: therefore, they were good in Jaundice;
Euphrasia or Eyebright had the appearance of the pupil
of the eye, on its flower, and was, therefore, adapted for
diseases of tne eye; Hepatica resembled the liver, and was
calculated to cure diseases of that viscus. The Walnut
bore some similitude, at its periphery, to the convolutions
of the brain, and was consequently a good cephalic. End-
less, indeed, are the examples, that might be adduced to
show the application of this doctrine—similia similibus
curantur ; but in our times the application of the remark
27
has been changed; and the people are now ready to be-
lieve—and many of them do believe—that there are reme-
dies, which are capable of inducing a morbid action similar
in kind to one that may be going on in the organism; and
that these two similar bodies—as in electricity—have a re-
pugnance for each other. An additional branch of this doc-
trine seems to be, that a part is greater than the whole; and
that medicines—to be effective—should be administered in
excessively minute quantities; the decillionth or tenm*!
Ueflth of a grain of charcoal being an authorized dose.
I have not gone into any calculation on this subject,
for I consider it unworthy of the trouble, or, indeed, of se-
rious examination, but a recent writer has, who expresses
himself as follows:—" The leading homceopathists of this
city (New York) speak of the decided effects of the decil-
lionth dilution; and the lowest homoeopathic dilution to be
obtained here, of medicines prepared in Germany, is the
third, which is very nearly in the proportion of one drop
of the tincture to one barrel of alcohol, or one grain of the
extract to 4 cwt. of sugar;" the eighth dilution gives one
drop of the tincture to one hundred millions of barrels; "so
that by the time we reach the 30th, it would form a mass
of alcohol larger than the whole solar system ! A drop of
the tincture, diffused through the waters of the Atlantic,
would form a stronger solution thanthe 8th ; and the same
throughout all the waters of the globe, would be more con-
centrated than the 9th. If we take sugar instead of alco-
hol, the 3d degree of< potence' would require more pounds
than a man could carry, and the 4th degree would freight
a north river sloop; the 5th, a 74 gun ship; and the 6th,
our whole navy."
This calculation may be disputable, and disputed; but if
we subject it to a large deduction, it will remain sufficiently
startling; and cause us not to be astonished at the assertion
of Jahr, a homoeopathic writer, that the decillionth of a
grain of flint or charcoal or cuttlefish juice is of equal effi-
cacy with the same dose of arsenic or strychnia !
28
When the dramatist wrote the homoeopathic senti-
ment—
" My grief is great because it is so small;"
the reply of the wag, in the pit, was, I apprehend, equally
homoeopathic—
" Then 'twould be greater, were it none at all."
Yet, to set all our philosophy still farther at defiance-, we
are told by the founder of the doctrine—Hahnemann—that
homoeopathic medicines acquire, at each division or dilu-
tion, a new degree of power, by the rubbing or shaking to
which they are subjected ; and this discovery Hahnemann
claims to be his own. " It is a means"—I quote his own
words—" of developing the inherent virtues of homoeopathic
medicines, that was unknown till my time; and which is so
energetic, that latterly I have been forced, by experience, to
reduce the number of shakes to two, of which I formerly pre-
scribed ten to each dilution" ! It is awful to reflect upon
the possible consequences to a patient, who might have a
ten millionth part of a grain of flint or charcoal sent to his
country residence, and shaken even more than ten or one
hundred times in its passage over our rough roads. The
catastrophe could scarcely fail to equal that, celebrated by
Coleman in his " Newcastle Apothecary," where, by mis-
take, the direction—" when taken to be well shaken," was
interpreted to apply to the patient instead of to the medi-
cine !
Yet, gentlemen, the more solemn part remains. We find
the possessors of these views, which seem to us so irrational,
patronized not only by the long-suffering, capricious, and
confiding female, but by men, who, in the pursuit of their
own honest daily avocations, exhibit no lack of good sense;
and by others, who, from their opportunities and position,
ought to be expected to reject unhesitatingly such marvel-
lous insignificancies; and who, on other subjects, exert a
29
judicious scepticism, and a just appreciation of ordinary
events.
It is entirely consistent with the manifestations of the
human mind, that excessive credulity and excessive scep-
ticism should exist at the same time in the same person;
and that one, who is a declared infidel on many topics that
are admitted by the wisest and the best, may yet cherish
the marvellous and the monstrous. The ancient but appo-
site anecdote of the flying-fish is, doubtless, known to many
of you; but it will bear repetition, and has been presented
again, of late, by a popular writer on a congenerous subject.
"Well, son John," said the old woman, "and what won-
derful things did you meet with all the time you were at
sea ?" " Oh ! mother," replied John, " I saw many strange
things." "Tell us all about them," replied his mother,
" for I long to hear your adventures.'' " Well, then," said
John,—" as we were sailing over the Line, what do you
think we saw ?" " I can't imagine ;" replied his mother.
" Well, we saw a fish rise out of the sea, and fly over our
ship !" " Oh, John, John ! what a liar you are !" said his
mother, shaking her head, and smiling incredulously,
" True as death !" said John; "and we saw still more won-
derful things than that." " Let us hear them," said his
mother, shaking her head again ; " and tell the truth, John,
if you can." " Believe it or believe it not, as you please,"
replied her son; " but as we were sailing up the Red Sea,
our Captain thought he should like some fish for din-
ner, so he told us to throw our nets and catch some."
" Well ?" inquired his mother, seeing that he paused in his
story. " Well," rejoined her son, we did throw them, and,
at the very first haul, we brought up a chariot-wheel, made
all of gold, and inlaid with diamonds !" " Lord bless us!"
said his mother; " and what did the Captain say ?" " Why,
he said it was one of the wheels of Pharaoh's chariot, that
had lain in the Red Sea ever since that wicked king was
drowned, with all his host, whilst pursuing the Israelites."
" Well, well!" said his mother, lifting up her hands in ad-
30
miration, "now that's very possible, and I think the Cap-
tain was a very sensible man. Tell me such stories as that,
and I'll believe you; but never talk tome of such things as
flying-fish ! No, no, John ! such stories won't go down
with me, I can assure you !"
How often do we not meet with the counterparts of the
sailor's mother, in our journeyings through life. The writer
referred to affirms, indeed, that the great majority of man-
kind, and even of the wisest among us, are still in her con-
dition—"believing and disbelieving on the same grounds
that she did—protesting against the flying-fish, but cherish-
ing the golden wheels;" straining at the gnat, and yet
ready to swallow the camel. The zealous sectarian may
be intolerant in regard to the beliefs or disbeliefs of his fel-
low christian; nay, in his doubts, he may attempt to account
for recorded miracles on physical principles; and yet,
sceptic as he is on those points, he may embrace without
hesitation, and urge upon others, all the dogmas of Homoeo-
pathy and Animal Magnetism, with the absurd extensions
that have been given to them by the wildest of enthusiasts.
"How,"—says one of these whose faith and credulity exceed
his judgment,—"how can I shut my eyes to facts? I
have seen—observed—with my own eyes, and I must be-
lieve." Yet he sees the wonderful performances of the jug-
gler,—performances which are far more astonishing than
any to which I have referred, sees—observes equally with
his own eyes, and does not believe; and only because he
was prepared to witness a deception.
Every age, gentlemen, has its follies. I have endeavoured
to depict some of those that belong to the past, and to our
own; and whose decadency we shall witness in no short
time, to give place, alas ! to others. In the case of homoeo-
pathy the revolution has already begun. Hydropathy is
supplanting it in Germany, the place of its nativity. In
the Homoeopathic Hospital at Leipzig, the head quarters of
31
the doctrine, a recent medical traveller found only eight beds;
and of these, all but two or three were unoccupied; whilst
the village of Graefenberg was absolutely crowded with
those who were undergoing the Wassercur, or " water treat-
ment" of Priessnitz, "an unlettered and uneducated hind"
of the Silesian mountains, who has induced some seven or
eight thousand invalids, in the course of the last ten years,
to submit themselves for weeks and months to his treat-
ment. Regarding this, there is a growing enthusiasm; and
a recent writer—a patient—in his zeal, informs us, that
sleeping in wet sheets is by no means the disagreeable
thing it is usually conceived to be. The first step may be
so ; but the subsequent sensations are said to be indescriba-
bly delightful.
There were—we are told—under Priessnitz's care, in
1841, an archduchess, ten princes and princesses, at least
one hundred counts and barons, military men of all grades,
several medical men, professors, advocates, &c, in all about
five hundred ! " And besides this high patronage," adds
the same writer, " Priessnitz has accumulated solid pudding
to the amount of £50,000; not from the accumulation of
guinea fees, or journeys at a guinea a mile, or occasional
cheques of £1000 in nightcaps thrown at the surgeon's
head,but from fees ranging from the minimum of four shil-
lings a week to the maximum of double that small sum,
and from the profit arising from his great boarding house,
where his patients are fed for eight shillings a week, and
lodged for four shillings more."
But the reported success of the Wassercur is not
yet so astounding as that of St. John Long, or of
the metallic tractors of Perkins. Amongst those, in
England, who furnished vouchers for the value of the
trastors as therapeutical agents, with their names af-
fixed to their communications, were eight professors in four
different universities, twenty-one regular physicians, nine-
teen surgeons, thirty clergymen, twelve of whom were
doctors of divinity, and numerous other characters of equal
respectability; and it was estimated by the London Per-
32
kinistic committee, that the number of cures, which had been
effected by the tractors up to the period of their report, ex-
ceeded one million five hundred thousand! And where,
it will be asked, is the Perkinistic Institution, where Per-
kinism itself, now? and Echo answers,—Where? They
are both remembered only as the delusions of a by-gone
period.
So goes the world. The Rocks and the Brodums, the
Solomons and the Eadys, Perkinism and Thomsonianism,
Brandy and Salt, Homoeopathy and Hydropathy,
" In turns appear, to make the vulgar stare,
'Till the swoln bubble bursts—and all is air."
Happily, one only of those delusions—Thomsonianism—
is indigenous with us. The rest are imported. " Why !"
says one of the most distinguished of Irish medical philoso-
phers, in a letter to me, " why do you not send us some-
thing in return for the inflictions of phrenology, mesmerism,
homoeopathy, &c, which we put upon you?" Yet, Great
Britain herself has but adopted these. She derived them,
with most of her nursery literature, her Jack and the Bean
Stalk, her Jack the Giant Killer, her Tom Thumb, and
many of her popular superstitions, from intellectual but
imaginative and mystic Germany. Phrenology and mes-
merism, homoeopathy and hydropathy, are all German ;
and undoubtedly, in the minds of most, they are more re-
garded when administered by a German. Yet, have they
not generally met with honour in their own country;—as-
suredly with far less than elsewhere.
First of all, these moral epidemics fade in their primitive
seat. Like many well known pestilences, they cross the
western main, rage for a while, and ultimately sitik be-
neath the western horizon ; to rise again, however, in the
east, in the revolution of ages, but under some new phases,
and to follow the same path.
Thus has it likewise been with many popular delusions.
Alchemy and the witch mania of former ages are in the
33
" deep bosom of the ocean buried;" but fortune-telling and
astrology yet exist among us.
" And men si ill grope t' anticipate
The cabinet designs of fate ;
Apply to wizards to foresee
What shall and what shall never be."
The Mississippi scheme, the South Sea bubble, and the
Tulipomania, were the delusions of former periods ; but the
nineteenth century has been prolific in similar bubbles, and
can offer its wild commercial and land speculations; its
morus multicaulis mania, and its joint stock companies.
The same causes are at the root of all popular delusions.
They spring from., the credulity of man; his love of the
marvellous ; his unbounded enthusiasm in the prosecution
of whatever may hold out prospects for improving his posi-
tion, and for ministering to his health and comfort. It is
idle, then, to attempt to enact laws against empirical reme-
dies or practices only. To do good, they should be directed
against all forms of empiricism and delusion ; but even then
they must fail. The evil is in the natural constitution of
the human mind, and does not admit of eradication. The
only feasible course is to educate the people; to instruct
them in the operations of the human body; to introduce
the study of physiology into the common schools; and to
steel the youthful mind, as far as practicable, against the
arts of the unprincipled and the ignorant.
As for the course of the physician, it is clear. To avoid
even the semblance of persecuting any body of men—how-
ever insignificant or unworthy—so as to excite undue sym-
pathy for them. All sects, and the followers of all systems,
are glad to raise the cry of persecution ; and the people are
prepared to believe, that instead of the opposition of the
profession being honest and upright, it originates in inter-
ested and sordid motives, The observing and reflecting
physician can derive information from every sect, and from
every form that empiricism assumes, or has assumed.
5
34
Thomsonianism, homoeopathy, and hydropathy have all
added to the stock of useful knowledge; and physiology
and psychology have been large gainers from phrenology
and animal magnetism. Although, therefore, the philan-
thropist may deplore the pernicious effects of popular delu-
sions on the masses, one consolation remains to him, that
science, at least, progresses, and that the cause of truth is
ever onward.
" Let us not, then,"—to conclude, in the language of a
very recent writer,—"in the pride of our superior knowledge,
turn with contempt from the follies of our predecessors.
The study of the errors into which great minds have fallen
in the pursuit of truth can never be uninstructive. As the
man looks back to the days of his childhood and his youth,
and recalls to his mind the strange notions and false opi-
nions that swayed his actions at that time, that he may
wonder at them, so should society, for its edification, look
back to the opinions which governed the ages fled. He is
but a superficial thinker who would despise and refuse to
hear of them merely because they are absurd. No man is
so wise but that he may learn some wisdom from his past
errors, either of thought or action; and no society has made
such advances as to be capable of no improvement from
ths retrospect of its past folly and credulity. And not only
is such a study instructive: he who reads for amusement
only will find no chapter in the annals of the human mind
more amusing than this. It opens out the whole realm of
fiction—the wild, the fantastic, and the wonderful, and all
the immense variety of things ' that are not, and cannot
be ; but that have been imagined and believed.' "